My Little Pony: The Collectible Card Game
by nightelf37
Summary: You know that My Little Pony CCG that has come out? Well, this fic will cover and advertize that game. And be made 20% cooler with a little Yu-Gi-Oh! animé flair. As in the hologram system. One-shot.


nightelf37: I figured I'd make a fanfic covering the MLP CCG to advertize it, and make it pseudo- _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ style just to add a little flair. Of course, given how different its rules are in comparison to many other CCG/TCGs like _Magic: The Gathering_ , _Duel Masters, WIXOSS_ (which has an anime preceding it titled _selector infected WIXOSS_ ), and _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ , things have to be different. This is just a one-shot, so don't expect any follow-ups But if someone wants to write a story revolving around this card game like Shonen Jump did for _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ (Wow, I've said it quite a few times now), that's their choice.

I own only the human characters, although I do envision the POV kid as Clementine from the _The Walking Dead_ video game. John, Mary, and their game are derived from the My Little Pony: Collectible Card Game wiki.

* * *

 **My Little Pony: The Collectible Card Game**

In an Earth, where collectible card games dominate the gaming industry alongside video games, a new CCG has emerged, popular enough that one company developing hologram technology has created a holographic interface just for it. It wasn't the first one, though; one other company went with the same idea less than two decades ago, and was the forefront of this craze.

But we're not here to talk about the world. We're here to talk about a kid living in it who is looking for a card game to play. Something that was child-friendly. Something that wasn't all about kicking your opponent's butt, and the new hologram tech many CCGs were using frightened her quite a bit. Having a virtual monster hack, slice, drench, pound, or blast her (and seeing other players react accordingly) wasn't at all appealing. She saw enough of the _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ animé to know that, as well as real players doing it with Duel Disks when she walks to and from school.

She entered the local card game shop, which was big enough to hold a few Holographic Fields for CCG players who like the special effects, tables for the gamers who prefer card images and their own imaginations, and empty rooms with glass windows for on-the-go CCG Players who use Duel Disk-styled devices to play. Personally, she couldn't see how they're able to hold their arms up for so long to use those devices.

She stopped at the glass counter, which contained starter decks and booster packs for many CCGs, as well as classic card packs like _Munchkin_ , _Uno, Monopoly Deal_ , and even Bicycle™ playing cards used in classic card games. She then looked at the wall behind the middle-aged shopkeeper, who was busy finishing a transaction with a customer, where similar bundles of cards hung, grouped in clusters according to what game they were for.

Once the shopkeeper was done, he turned to face her. "Oh! Hello, little feller. Lookin' fer a game to play?" The kid reacted in surprise. The shopkeeper chuckled and said, "I could see it in your eyes. Looking all over the wall behind me. So, what kind of game are you looking for?"

"Um," she began. "I'm looking for something… friendly. Anything but Yu-Gi-Oh!."

"Not a big fan of the popular games huh?" He bent down and made to grab a starter pack. "Well, I dunno if I'm bein' stereotypical here, but maybe this is for you." He took it out and gave it to her.

The kid looked at the pack. She was familiar with the show it was based on. She's watched it on television and loved it. She even has a doll she plays with based on a character there. But to see it as a card game? Now that was something else. "My Little Pony: Collectible Card Game?"

"Could hardly believe it myself when I first heard it. While not as popular as _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or _Magic: The Gathering_ , this game's got their own Holograms just like them." Just then, two people entered the store. They were a teenage couple, and judging by their apparel, they were fans of the same show as the kid. "And wouldn't you know. We got two players of that game comin' here right now." He greeted the pair. "Hey there, John and Mary! Lookin' to buy another pack?"

"You betcha!" said the male, John, who looked like a hardworker both outdoors and scholarly. "Any new ones yet?"

"Yup. The _Absolute Discord_ packs just came this month. Hey, ya got time for a match?" The shopkeeper gestured to the kid. "I'd like to introduce this girl to the game yer playin'."

"Sure, why not?" said the female, Mary, whose appearance melded "tomboy" and "girly girl" without clashing the two styles. "I've been meaning to put Johnny here down a few pegs."

"Hey, you were ahead of me for the majority of our last game."

"Still too close if you ask me."

The shopkeeper turned to an employee of the store and said, "Hey, Cathy. Could you tend the counter for me? I need to teach this kid here a new game."

"Sure thing, boss."

* * *

The kid, the shopkeeper, and John and Mary were now next to a Holographic Field designed for _My Little Pony: Collectible Card Game_. The kid noted it was reminiscent of the map of Equestria in the Season 5 premiere. The players stood at opposite sides, and in front of them were zones to place their cards. Two near their left hand, two near their right (one actually wasn't for cards, as the kid discovered later, but a score notifier), and one a little further from the latter and 'laid' horizontally. There were identical zones opposite theirs that represented their opponent and what cards they'll be putting. The shopkeeper lent the two players starter packs so they can demonstrate to the kid how the game was played.

"Now, kid. Here's how the game works. Before you play the game, you need the followin' cards: First, a Draw Deck consistin' of at least forty-five cards, with no more than three copies of a single card (with the exact name). These types of cards consists of Friends, Events, Resources, and Troublemakers, which will be elaborated later. Second, a Problem Deck consistin' of exactly ten Problem cards, with no more than two copies of a single Problem. And at least one of these Problems must also contain the Starting Problem keyword. Third, a Mane Character card, which will be in play at the start of the game."

"You'll also need various counters to represent action tokens and other stuff, as well as Reference Cards," added John as he shuffled his deck. "But this Holographic Field will take care of all that. Now it's time to start the game. We'll begin by placing our Mane Character into our Home, 'Start' side up." He and Mary showed their cards to the kid, then set them down on the Home zone.

In the virtual matrix representing the playing field, two flashes of light like in Yu-Gi-Oh duels appeared, and from them emerged two main characters. On John's side was Twilight Sparkle, pre-Season 3 finale, when she was still a unicorn. And on Mary's side was Rainbow Dash. Their opposite zones showed holograms of each other's cards so that they can look at it without having to ask their opponent first.

"Next, we look through our Problem Decks, and choose one with the Starting Problem keyword," Mary explained as she and John did them. "We then shuffle the rest of the Problems, then place them face-down on the Problem Deck zone, then place our Starting Problem face-up on top of that."

Once that was done, two landscapes revealed themselves in the center of the field. On John's right (and Mary's left) was a familiar scenario in the "Winter Wrap Up" episode. It was a snow-covered field, and two hoof-driven vehicles designed to plow the snow have been brought to life and was running wild. On Mary's right (and John's left) was Ponyville in a rainy day. Simulated ponies were lamenting their ruined hairstyles, running for shelter, or standing with umbrellas out.

"Now we choose who goes first via a quick game of chance, but for purposes of this lesson, I'll leave that to John. And because he's going first, he doesn't get to draw a card at the start of the turn. He will on turn three, though. After that, we shuffle our Draw Decks, place them on the aptly-named Draw Deck zone, and draw six cards. If you don't like what you draw—"

"I do a mulligan, right?" interrupted the kid. "And I can only do it once, right?"

Mary gave a smile as she and John drew their cards. "You sure know a bit of card games, do you?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Here's another thing you should know. You **do not** lose the game if you Draw Deck is reduced to 0 cards. Remember that."

"I will."

"There are three things ya should know right now about Mane Character cards," explained the shopkeeper as he handed the kid a copy of John's Twilight Sparkle card. Its subtitle read "Faithful Student". "First, the power value, located in the top right corner of the card, consists of a number value (how much power) and a color (what type of power it is). As ye can see, Twilight Sparkle has a total of one Purple power. Second, the Home Limit, located in the game text area of the card, determines how many Friends you can have at your Home at one time; in this case here, three. if you have more Friends than the limit allows, you'll have ta retire some of 'em (that is, send to the discard pile) at the end of yer turn. Twilight Sparkle is a Mane Character and not a Friend, so she doesn't count against the Home Limit. Third, additional game text underneath the Home Limit tells you what ya need to do in order t' flip Twilight over to her more powerful Boosted side; in this case, ya need to win a faceoff and she must participate in it."

"To win the game, we players need to move characters (Mane Characters and Friends) to Problems in order to confront them, scoring points in the process," John supplied. "These cards also have three important pieces of information." Tapping at some button the kid couldn't see from her position, a hologram of a Problem card titled It's Alive! appeared above the winter landscape with the rampant snow plow, and then turned itself so that the kid can see it. "First, you have the play requirements on the bottom and the top. I have to meet the ones at the bottom, whereas Mary has to meet the ones at the top, and the reverse applies for her Problem, which is the obviously the other one."

"For John to solve the It's Alive! Problem, he needs one Purple power, and one power that is **not** Purple," Mary continued. "For me, I need four total power of any color." Another tap of a button and another hologram of a card appeared, this time above the rainy Ponyville. "For this  Cloudbursting problem, I need one Blue power, and one non-Blue power, whereas John just needs four total power. There's also the case of bonus points. As you can see for both of them, that number is 1. Whoever successfully confronts a Problem first earns its bonus points."

"A player's turn's divided inta four phases: the Ready Phase, the Troublemaker Phase, the Main Phase, and the Score Phase," the shopkeeper stepped in. "In the Ready Phase, the player draws a single card, readies all of their exhausted cards, and gains action tokens based on the highest person's score. In the Troublemaker Phase, the player can challenge their opponent's Troublemaker cards to faceoffs or reveal their own. In the Main Phase, the player can play new cards from their hand and use the abilities of cards already in their play area. Finally, in the Score Phase, the player can score points for confronting Problems and winning faceoffs against their opponent's characters that are also confronting Problems."

"Now that all of that is explained to you, it's time we started the game so you can see how it goes," Mary stated as she and John dismissed the card holograms of their problems. "Ready John?"

"Of course."

And then they spoke the following words at the same time. "Let the My Little Pony games begin!"

As if it was a pass phrase of sorts, the virtual matrix shuddered and a score counter appeared in the middle of the field, set on the side so that the kid and shopkeeper are opposite it. Both of them read 0 so far. A Fire of Friendship as seen in the "Hearth's Warming Eve" episode appeared over John's area, and seemed to signify that it was his turn. Someone once hacked into this Holographic Field so that it would instead show _Digimon Adventure_ 's Crest of Friendship, but the shopkeeper had it rectified to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits.

"Since it's my first Ready Phase," John explained to the kid. "I don't get to draw a card. I also don't get to ready any exhausted cards because I don't have any. So far, all I can do is earn action tokens, which is determined by the player with the highest score." As if on cue, appearing in the middle of his Mane Character and the two Problems are two large spinning bits, which were colored green and had an A engraved on both sides. "Because we both have zero points, I only earn two ATs."

"During yer Main Phase," explained the shopkeeper. "Ya can do the following: draw a card fer one AT; play a Troublemaker from the hand face-down to either problem fer one AT; move a character from your Home to a Problem, vice-versa, or between Problems fer two ATs; ready a frightened card fer two ATs; and play Friends, Resources, or event from the hand according t' their AT cost and other play requirements.

"Friends can be played to their owner's home or to either Problem, Event cards are dismissed after they've been played and take effect, and Resources can be played to wherever their game text says to play them to. Players can also use the abilities of cards already in their play area."

"I won't play any cards this turn," John said as he dragged his Twilight Sparkle, Faithful Student card. "Instead, I move my Mane Character from my Home to the It's Alive Problem." In the virtual matrix, John's Twilight Sparkle trotted over to the snowy landscape, and then seemed to use her magic to try and stop one of the rampant snow plows. John's two ATs also vanished into sparkles. "I'm now halfway towards confronting the Problem. But points aren't awarded for halfway efforts, so I still only have a score of 0. End Turn."

After he tapped somewhere on the board (probably an End Turn button), The Fire of Friendship sailed from John's area to Mary's.

"Now it's my turn. Draw!" Mary took out a card from her Draw Deck in a style reminiscent of _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ duelists. "I have no cards that need to be readied and now I get my action tokens." Again, as if on cue, two ATs appeared on her side of the field. "I'm going to use these tokens to do the following. First, I set a Troublemaker card on John's Problem." Appearing on the winter landscape was a large copy of a MLP:CCG card face-down, kinda like how _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ duelists set Trap Cards, Quick-Play Spell Cards, or face-down Defense Position Monster Cards. One of Mary's ATs also vanished as a result. "Next, I summon  Noteworthy, Humdinger to confront the Cloudbursting Problem!"

In a flash of light, just like with John's Twilight and Mary's Rainbow Dash, the blue earth pony stallion and background character in the show appeared. He ran over to the rainy Ponyville, went to a sheltered place, and looked up at the rainy clouds like the others, as if planning something. The other AT then vanished as well.

"Mary and I were avid _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ players before she found this game," John explained. "She still plays it from time to time, and she just loves spouting out their quotes from the animé."

"I can't help it! It's the forefront of **these** games!" replied Mary, then she turned to face the kid. "As you can see…" Tapping on her card, a hologram of it appeared right above it before she then 'pushed' it over to the potential future player. "Friend cards are very similar to Mane Character cards. You can see the white Power of 1 in the top right corner, and an area where game text would go, though Noteworthy here doesn't have any… notable special abilities." She chuckled to herself at her own joke. The kid already deduced that the color Powers represent the six main characters of the show. "An important difference is on the left side of the card, where the action token cost is located. This tells you how many ATs it will cost in order to play the card; in this case, Noteworthy has a cost of 1 AT. Just like John here, I've only met half of the requirements to solve one of the Problems. The score remains tied at 0 points each."

"You finished yet?" asked her boyfriend.

"Just about. I end my turn." And with that, the Fire of Friendship flew over to John's side.

"All right. Let's see if I can score some points here. My turn." He drew a card, and two ATs appeared on his side of the field. "Mary has a Troublemaker on my Problem, but since it hasn't been flipped yet—which can only be done on her next turn—it won't prevent me from confronting the Problem. Now, for me to confront the It's Alive problem, I'll need to play a Friend card that generates at least 1 non-Purple power. Come here, kid. It's against the rules to show my opponent what I'm about to show you."

With a little hesitation, the kid did as John asked, the shopkeeper following. Once they were at John's side, he showed them a Friend card. "I only have one Friend card to meet the requirements, and that is this: Apple Cobbler, Headstrong." The kid looked at the card, recognizing the background pony from a scene in "A Friend in Deed", during Pinkie Pie's "Smile" musical number. The game text also read Stubborn **,** but the kid hoped he'd explain later. "You might notice that underneath Apple Cobbler's cost of 1 action token, there's an Orange value of 1. This is the card's play requirement; how much colored Power I need to already have in play in order to play this card."

"Quite the paradox John is facing, innit?" commented the shopkeeper. "In order to play his Orange Friend, he needs to already have an Orange Friend in play. Luckily, I see a card that can take care of that."

"That I do." John then turned back to face Mary. "All right. I pay one AT to play the Event card Apples and Oranges!" He took out the card from his hand and set it down in the middle of the two Problems and his (empty) Home, and an image of the card appeared facing Mary, akin to _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ Spell Cards. An AT also vanished. "And I select Twilight Sparkle as the event's target."

"Event cards are single-use cards that, once their effect has been used, get sent to the discard pile," the shopkeeper explained. "The three important parts of this card that we're concerned with right now are the following: 1) The action token cost and play requirements on the left side of the card; Apples and Oranges has a cost of 1 AT and no requirements. 2) The timing, which is when in a turn the card can be played. This is indicated by bold text in the game text area; Apples and Oranges can only be played during the Main Phase, which it currently is. 3) The rest of the game text, which is what the card does. You might also notice that the card has a power value of 4, but that's not important right now, and won't affect playing the Event in any way."

"Apples and Oranges allows me to select one of my Orange or Purple characters, and give them +1 Orange power and +1 Purple power until the end of the phase." Whilst attempting to stop the rampant snow plow, appearing above John's Twilight were two gem-like icons; a purple starburst, and an orange apple. "I then put the card in my discard pile."

"Hey kid," Mary called out from the other side of the Holographic Field. "Whenever a character becomes multicolored (meaning when they generate more than one color of power), their total power is based on the combined sum of all their different colored power values. Right now, John's Twilight has a total of 3 power that can count as **either** Purple or Orange power. They can only provide one color of power at a time when confronting Problems, so she wouldn't be able to confront the  It's Alive! Problem by herself in this case. Conversely, multicolored characters can provide any of their colors of power when meeting the play requirements for cards, which means John could now play cards that have a play requirement of up to 3 Purple and 3 Orange power."

"Which is what I'm gonna do right now," said John as he set a Friend card at his Problem. "Apple Cobbler, time to help out Twilight!" As his last AT disappeared, the background earth pony mare was summoned to the snow field. Seemingly understanding the situation immediately, Cobbler went to the rampant snow plow, hopped in, and stood her ground in an attempt to stop it from moving around. Combined with her earth pony strength and Twilight's magic, the plow stopped moving altogether, though the aura that made it move didn't disappear.

"Now that I have met the requirements of the It's Alive! Problem, I am successfully **confronting** it. A player scores 1 point every time they confront a Problem, and also earn bonus points if it's the first time that Problem is being confronted. In this case,  It's Alive! has a bonus point value of 1, meaning that I now have a score of 2 points! As long as I keep my characters there, they can continue to confront it on each of my turns in order to score additional points. End Turn."

"That's true, John," replied Mary as the kid and the shopkeeper moved to the opposite end of the Holographic Field from where they were. "But if you move either of them from the problem, then the requirements wouldn't be met and you wouldn't be able to confront it. Unfortunately for you, while I have no card that can do that, I got something else up my sleeve. Draw!" And she…well, you know… "I have no exhausted cards to ready, and because the highest score is two points, thanks to John, I get three action tokens (and he does too on his next turn)." And 3 ATs appeared on her side of the field. "Now, I activate my Trap— shoot, Troublemaker card!"

She swiped her arm over her field and her face-down card flipped itself up in the middle of the snow field, and John's Twilight and Cobbler were certainly surprised to see the card come out of nowhere. "This is Purple Parasprite. At the start of your Troublemaker Phase, John, you should exhaust one of your characters." She then turned to the kid. "And as long as this Troublemaker is up, John can't confront the Problem." Indeed, John's Twilight and Cobbler were now busy holding off off the irritating cute insect, which were coming out of the Troublemaker Card, and the snow plow has gone rampant again. "Now, I'm gonna show you the details and let him explain."

The hologram of the card ascended from the winter landscape and turned itself in front of the kid. "All right, kid," began the shopkeeper. "First, the power value of the Troublemaker Card is in the top-right corner. Unlike the power found on Mane Characters and Friends, this power has no associated color, and is only used in faceoffs against its opponent's characters (which will be explained later). Two, over there is the points awarded to a player if they are able to defeat the Troublemaker. Three, that's the game text that explains any special abilities the Troublemaker has, which Mary just explained to you."

"Now that I have three ATs instead of two, I can start playing more powerful cards. I spend them all to Summon Jetstream, All Heart to confront the Cloudbursting Problem!" And brought forth to the rainy Ponyville was a background pegasus mare the kid wasn't at all familiar with. As this pegasus descended to Mary's Noteworthy's position and deliberated (and the ATs disappeared), Mary added, "Jetstream's play requirement, one Blue power, is already supplied by my Rainbow Dash. Also, Jetstream has an impressive ability that gives her +2 power when involved in a faceoff. Now that I have enough colored power at the Cloudbursting Problem to start confronting it, I gain 1 point plus another bonus point for being the first to confront it, for a total score of 2 points! I'm now tied with John, and that ends my turn."

The kid was too busy looking at Mary's Jetstream move the clouds to make way for clear skies while Noteworthy seemed to coordinate with her that she didn't notice the Fire of Friendship move to John's side.

"Okay. I need to do something about that Purple Parasprite if I want to continue confronting the It's Alive! Problem," ruminated John as he drew a card. "No exhausted cards to ready now, and I get three ATs." Said ATs appeared. "And now that it's the Troublemaker Phase… Mary's Purple Parasprite takes effect. I exhaust Apple Cobbler, Headstrong." The parasprites focused all of themselves on John's Cobbler, ignoring Twilight's efforts in stopping them. After a while, they dispersed and returned to doing general mayhem. Cobbler did indeed looked tired, and there was even a "triple Z" icon pertaining to the Sleep status in video games. But she immediately shook it off, and was up and ready, even though the "triple Z"s were still there.

"Well played, John," commented Mary. "Your Apple Cobbler, Headstrong has the Keyword Stubborn. Stubborn characters are still allowed to contribute their power to faceoffs and confronting Problems **even while exhausted**. Deliberate choice there."

"I'm not done yet. It's still the Troublemaker Phase, and I decide it's time to faceoff against the Troublemaker!" The Fire of Friendship blazed bright and six gems descended to the winter landscape before circling it. The kid identified them as the Element of Harmony when they were used for the first time, as she remembered in the Season 4 premiere. The purple parasprites dispersed and gathered on one side as John's Twilight and Cobbler stood together.

"There are different types of faceoffs that can occur in the game, kid," explained the shopkeeper. "There's the (single) Problem faceoff, which is between all of the characters at one Problem when both players are confronting the same Problem. There's the double Problem faceoff, between all of the characters at both Problems when one player is confronting both Problems (regardless of if their opponent is able to confront any Problems). And there's this, the Troublemaker faceoff, between a player's characters and their opponent's Troublemaker at one Problem. In all faceoffs, the winning side will be the one with the most total power."

The parasprites began to "glow" in a dark radiance, while Twilight and Cobbler were suddenly equipped with Elements of Harmony pertaining to their Color attribute, though Cobbler's necklace was bronze and not gold. Numbers representing their power appeared above their heads.

"Won't John lose at his current state?" asked the kid.

"It's not over yet," said the shopkeeper. "Each player gets to flip over the top card of their draw deck, and add the power value of that flipped card to their current power to come up with a total power value."

"You're counting on the draw to save you, aren't you, John?" asked Mary.

"And if I am?" he countered.

"You better hope you got a plan. Now let's…"

The two players drew the top card of their decks and then showed it in front of each other like _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ duelists activating Spell Cards from the hand. " **Faceoff!** " the two shouted at the same time. Immediately, spheres of energy emerged from the cards and made their way to the parasprite swarm and John's deployed ponies, imbuing them with power. The cutesy devourers began to vibrate with dark energy, while the ponies' elements began to shine.

An equation number then appeared right above each side before solving itself and showing just the result; Mary's had a 4 + 2 = 6, whereas John's had a 1 + 1 + 3 = 5.

"Whoo-hoo!" laughed Mary as she and John put down their flipped cards. "It seems you lost the faceoff, John. As per the rules, you'll have to choose one of his characters at the It's Alive problem and move them Home—"

"Not so fast, Mary!" Her boyfriend interrupted as he took out a card from his hand and showed it to her like a _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ Spell Card, even spouting out a quote. "From my hand, I activate an Event Card!  Team Effort!" An AT vanished as payment to 'cast' it. "If I have Applejack or Twilight Sparkle involved in this faceoff, I can draw an additional card, two if I have both. I have Twilight involved in this faceoff, so…"

"Shoot."

"Here's my next card!" John revealed his next card, it shot off its energy to his ponies, and the number 5 turned into 5 + 3 = 8. "Looks like I win." With the gathered power in the necklaces, the Elements fired beams of light at the purple parasprites, engulfing them into a tornado before sending it flying to the sky until it became a twinkle. The six Elements of Harmony then returned to the Fire of Friendship, signalling the end of the faceoff.

"Well played, John. Well played."

"Thank you, Mary. As winner of the face-off, I earn one point for defeating the Purple Parasprite, raising my score to 3 points total. It and my Team Effort card go to our discard piles…" The two players made to do so. "And the cards we flipped as part of the faceoff go on the bottom of our draw decks, and we can choose which order they go in. And if you remember the game text in my Twilight Sparkle, Faithful Student, if I win a face-off…"

Energy streamers began to engulf John's Twilight body until it completely covered her. And then they vanished, revealing… Twilight still looking the same, but with a faint radiance of power emanating from her.

"She gets boosted!" finished the kid.

"That's right. Now, she has a Home Limit of 4, has the keyword Studious, which earns me an AT when I win a faceoff involving at least one Studious character. And after a faceoff involving this card, not counting the last one, any Event I flipped during them can go to my hand instead of the bottom of my deck. Now that there's nothing preventing me from confronting It's Alive!, I can start to focus on the other available Problem." As John's ponies returned to confronting the rampant snow plow, he picked a card from his hand and set it down near the other Problem. "I pay two ATs to play Mint Jewelup, A Cut Above to the Cloudbursting Problem."

A background unicorn mare (which the kid barely identified her having appeared in the Season 1 finale) appeared in the rainy Ponyville landscape, immediately began fretting her ruined outfit, but quickly setting it aside by sheltering herself before approaching Mary's Noteworthy and consulting with him. They then began to coordinate and the sky became a little clearer thanks to Mary's Jetstream.

"Now that I'm still successfully confronting the It's Alive! Problem, I score 1 point, and that only, since I already got the bonus score. This brings my total score up to 4 points. End turn. you're up Mary."

"I'm just getting warmed up, John!" she said as the Fire of Friendship moved towards her area. "Draw!" After that, three ATs appeared. "First, I activate the Resource Card Two Bits to my Home. Second, I set a Troublemaker card on John's Problem. And third, I Summon Sweetie Sunrise, Early Riser to the It's Alive Problem."

For each card, one AT disappeared. A face-up card with a hologram of two large bits flipping themselves appeared at Mary's Home, where her Rainbow Dash was napping, bored from not being deployed to confront a Problem. A yellow redhead background pegasus mare with a strawberry-and-grape cutie mark appeared in the winter landscape, and pounced on the other rampant snow plow, attempting to crash it. And she was handling it on her own until John's Twilight took notice. Making sure both plows were in sight, she focused her magic on both of them, thus easing the efforts of Mary's Sunrise without making it harder for John's Cobbler.

"Wow, they're working together," noted the kid.

"Well, one of the taglines of the show **is** 'Friendship is Magic'," pointed out Mary. "It would make sense to work together instead of fight, though I still love those."

"What's the Two Bits card?"

"It's a Resource Card. They can be played either to a location, such as a Home or at a Problem, or on to another card. Some of them have one-time abilities, such as this card, while other ones can be used more than once. Two Bits allows me to reduce the cost of the next card I play by two ATs at the cost of dismissing the Resource." She returned her attention to John. "As I'm still confronting the Cloudbursting Problem; I score 1 point, bringing my total score to 3 points. I end my turn."

And the Fire of Friendship flew over to John.

"My turn." He then drew a card. "Since I have an exhausted card, she's now readied." The "triple Z"s above John's Cobbler popped out of existence and she looked preppy. Three ATs also appeared for his use. "Time for a big move. I use all my tokens and send Red Gala, Favorite Cousin and Comet Tail, Hale Bopper to confront the Cloudbursting Problem."

Two more ponies appeared at the rainy Ponyville landscape, and a change of strategy occurred. John's Mint cast a spell on Comet, bestowing him Glimmer Wings, much to his chagrin, then the unicorn stallion began to fly upward (fast!) to assist Mary's Jetstream by blasting the clouds with magic beam to disperse them (fast!). John's Gala also began supplying food out of nowhere for both sides' ponies.

"Now that I'm confronting both Problems, it's time for a Double Problem Faceoff!" Unlike last time, the Fire of Friendship did not summon the Elements of Harmony. Instead, it just released a shockwave akin to a solar flare that descended on both landscapes. Both sides' ponies didn't seem to notice as energies flowed out of them, and then coalesced into a ball of energy that had numbers in them. John's had a 3, 1, 1, 2, and 1, while Mary's had a 1, 1, and a 2 that turned into a 4. "Right. Jetstream's effect adds 2 power. Looks like I got the upper hand, Mary.

"Don't be so sure, John. The cards we flip can turn the tables just yet."

"Right. Time for a…"

" **Faceoff**!" Mary joined John as they both drew cards and showed it to each other. Like before, spheres of energy emerged from the cards and made their way to the bundle of numbers. The numbers began to scramble as they formed into an equation. John's equation turned into 3 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 9. Mary's became… 4 + 1 + 1 + 5 = 11.

"Woo-hoo!" cheered Mary. What an unexpected outcome; she won the faceoff with a total power of 11 trumping John's 9.

"As a reward for winning the faceoff, Mary scores points equal to the greatest bonus points value printed on the two Problems involved in the faceoff," the shopkeeper then explained to the kid. "Both Problems have the same bonus points value, so Mary scores 1 point. In a single Problem faceoff, the reward would be the bonus points value printed on that one Problem.

At the landscapes, the snow plows stopped moving and it stopped raining in Ponyville. All participating ponies cheered, then the landscapes vanished and the ponies were teleported to their respective Homes.

"When a Problem faceoff concludes, that Problem is solved, and all characters involved in the faceoff are sent from their Problem(s) straight to Home. At the end of a player's turn, if the number of Friends at that player's Home would exceed their Mane Character's Home Limit, some of those Friends would have to be dismissed—that is, sent to the discard pile—by that player. Luckily for both our players, they have just enough friends to meet the limit, so they don't have to dismiss anypony.

"If the solved Problem(s) had any Resources attached to them, those Resources would be dismissed at this time. Solved Problems are placed on the bottom of their Problem Deck, and the top card of the Problem Deck is flipped face-up to become a new active Problem." The two players proceeded to put their now-solved problem at the bottom of their Problem Decks. "Two Problems have been solved, so two new Problems have been revealed."

Manifesting into existence Taking place of the landscapes were the indoors of a certain library and the interior of a twister. In the library was a construct of Twilight Sparkle making various calculations and looking like what she was in the episode "It's About Time". In the twister was an air balloon, which contained a screaming construct of the background pony Cherry Berry. Also in the library however was a face-down card.

"Mary, why is your Troublemaker Card still there?" asked the kid.

"Those cards aren't dismissed," she explained. They will stay around to cause trouble at the next active Problem when I want them to."

"I'm gonna win this time, Mary!" her boyfriend called out.

"You wish," she dared back.

* * *

The game continued for a long while, and the kid managed to learn a couple of more things too as John and Mary played. Not battled, not dueled, played; this game was different from other CCGs, and the goal isn't to defeat your opponent, but to win before they do. There was a subtle difference between _My Little Pony: Collectible Card Game_ and other CCGs that she can't explain. In the other games, all she could see were desires to fight, to be the best, to dominate, and many (though not all) were bent on that desire. In this game, she saw none of that; just friendly competition, enjoying the holographic effects overall, and watching the Equestrians (there were more than just ponies) solve problems together. Sure, John and Mary were heated competitors, but that was because they were former _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ duelists (well, John was, Mary still plays it).

She learned a lot of other Keywords other Friends and Mane Characters can have. She learned about Villain Troublemakers, who are detrimental to both players, but can be faced off by either, including the owner, for bonus points. She learned about the new Chaos effects from the cards in the latest pack, which activate when readied after being frightened. She learned it was best to have at most two colors for a deck. And she learned that she loved this game.

So she purchased a Pinkie Pie & Fluttershy Two Player Theme Deck from the shop, since that had the most cards out of the deal. Not only does it give her a wider selection of cards to choose from when she'll eventually make her own personalized deck, she can immediately play with a friend and introduce the game to them.

Now this is the kind of game she wanted to play.

* * *

nightelf37: And that's it. Let me know if you have made a fanfic revolving on the CCG.

Now I understand why _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ duels in the animé start with 4000 LP for each player instead of 8000 like in well, real life _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ games; it'd be too long otherwise. Then again, I did do a lot of exposition of the game.

Sorry if this story wasn't really that stellar. See ya on Third!


End file.
